Latest News

Well, I must say it has been a L-O-N-G time since I had nothing to do. The house is clean, the laundry done, kids are outside playing, nothing on tv and for once I am caught up on my updates. So, you get a useless update just to fill my time.

Taylor finally cleaned his room. It took 3 hours and it is really just rearranged mess rather than clean, but I can live with that. I talked to Dr. Shirley’s nurse and the cultures are not in yet and it will be at least Monday before they are. So, I will call them Tuesday if I have not heard from them. I have told them to call my cell, but I am sure they will call at home and leave a message and that wont help me. The only reason I want to go ahead and get it started is because the Dr wants him to be finished with the meds before he comes back to see him and we have an appointment scheduled for Aug. 21st, so we need to get the meds going in order to get done in time.

Okay, I have updated the only possible tid bit I can. I can ask that you pray for Taylor and his continued success against cancer. Pray for all of our friends who continue this battle.

Well, we are ready! The boys are finishing up their rooms. We have to clean up our breakfast dishes and sweep up all the cinnamon and sugar from their toast and we will be all done. The car is packed and ready to go, all it needs is passengers! The 3 of us are hanging out and being lazy, so all we need to do is get a bath and get dressed to go. Jim has to work until 6:00, so we have plenty of time.

I will not have the computer with me, so I will not update until we get back. I am sure we will have plenty of stories after 10 days at the beach in a camper with Taylor and Logan!

We are waiting on the Dr. to call and get the meds called in. Hopefully, he will call before we leave and I can get the meds called in to our normal RX, but if not we will get it taken care of down there.

Well, have a great week and we will talk to you all in a week or so.

Today was much less busy than yesterday. We went to PDO where Taylor played laser tag all day. Our class was good today, well, I guess they were, I was gone a lot. Poor Sarah got left along. Bro. Bobby came by for a visit, so I had to visit with him for a while. He is doing well as well as Twink, his wife who has breast cancer. It was so good to visit with him!

The boys and I had swim suites on with plans to go to Alabama Adventure after school, but they wanted to go to Paw Paw’s where they can dive. It actually worked out better that way. I was able to go on home and get packed and get things cleaned up rather than having to wait until tomorrow to do everything.

I went to pick the boys up at about 5:00 to get ready for VBS. I brought them clean clothes, but guess what I forgot? I totally forgot that they were in swim trunks all day and had no underwear. OOps! I am sure Taylor kept that tid bit quiet, but Logan thought it was so funny, so I am sure everyone knew he didn’t have undies on.

They went to their last night of VBS tonight. We went to see their little program. They will be singing again on Sunday morning, but we will miss it. My two do not enjoy performing, so they are not too upset about missing it. All though it was funny, you could tell the songs that Taylor did like. He really did the movements on that one! Another funny thing, Logan is mad that it is over! He said it wasn’t fair and we should go everyday. That is funny coming from the little guy who cried and barely made it in the door the first night!

After VBS we met Gam maw and Paw Paw for dinner. They are going on vacation too, so it will be a while before they see the boys again. We headed home where the boys played with walkie talkies and Jim and I got the last little bit packed and loaded in the car.

Today was very busy, but we made it! We had to be at Children’s South at 9:15. We got signed in and all that paper work filled out. How many different ways can you be asked what meds you take or how many surgeries you have had. Soon we went back to triage and Taylor has either really gained weight or the scales were off a little. He was 20.8 kilos or 46 pounds.

The NP came in and he is all congested and thoghhis nose is not running much it is all stopped up in his head and is green. We saw a new Dr. due to my dislike of the ENT we usually see which is why we have not been in so long. Anyway, we saw Dr. Shirley today. He was very nice and tried something new. He sucked out his nose. It was pretty cool though Taylor did not think so. He did each side separate and the labeled it and sent it off to be cultured. He will call me in a few days with the results and a script for a med that will specifically target whatever grew since obvioulsy nothing else is working. He is going to put him on about a 3 week course of meds and then see him back in late August and see how it worked. He is trying not to have to CT him again not another sinus surgery. Oh how I pray he doesn’t need surgery again. Please join us in praying that Dr. Shirley can get to the bottom of it without surgery!

Dr. Berkow’s wife is a nurse practitioner in that office, so we got to see her and talk to her for a little bit. It is always nice to see the Berkow’s, they are very nice. As much as we love Dr. B, it was nice to see her in the normal ole ENT clinic rather than him in the oncology clinic. It looks as though we may see a lot of her as Dr. Shirley seems set on finding the answer. Well, so did the ones before him……..

We were, by some miracle, done and in the car by 10:30. We met Jim for lunch and then ran a few errands before we had to be at the dentist.

Taylor went first in the dentist office. Today he had to do bite wing x rays. We have avoided these the last few times due to his gag reflex, but today we had to do it. He did fabulous! He got through the cleaning and all fine, but got gagged on the fluoride, but overall he did well. He has 2 cavities. Dang it! They are in the same teeth that they painted the sealer on last July. It protected them for a while, but he grinds his teeth so bad that he has rubbed all that sealer off. It is the same old problem, he can’t wear the teeth guard due to gagging. So, he will have 2 fillings on Aug. 5Th. He does need to brush better, but some of it is out of our control with all the treatment he had and it just weakened those teeth.

Logan was acting up in the waiting room. He was already crying and telling me he was not going to open up his mouth. The dentist is not Logan’s favorite place to be. Well, when she called him he jumped up and climbed into the chair. He asked for “cimmanon toof paste” then asked what Taylor had and changed to mint. He did fantastic!!! He let her clean, rinse, floss and fluoride his teethwithnot tears, wiggles or anything else!!! He had a good report and will not go back until January. He will need to see an orthodontist at about 7 yrs old. He has an over bite that can be corrected withan appliance in his mouthif done while the jaw is still growing. However, if he were to wait it would be a surgical procedure. We will worry about that later. All in all a good visit. I would love it if Taylor had no cavities, but again, with all he has been through that is nothing and we can handle it!

Well, I better go. I have a lot of cleaning, washing and packing to do!

Today was fun. We went to PDO and then straight to Alabama Adventure. We played for several hours in the lazy river, wave pool and the kiddie pool. We ran into our buddy Evan who is sporting a new port which allows him to get wet, so they had fun playing. We also ran into our other cancer pal, Madison. Kind sad huh, 3 cancer kids playing together in the local water park. I mean, it is sad that there are that many, but how glorious to have 3 survivors playing together! We ran into Mrs. Harmon too. Taylor kind of looked at her like she had horns. I guess he thought she lived under her desk at school and never got out, I don’t know. He finally talked to her a little. It was fun to run into so many people. Before we knew it it was 4:00 and we had to get home to get cleaned up for VBS.

Logan is loving it! They made bouncy balls last night and slimy goo tonight. He asks all day, “how much longer?” Taylor brought Blake with him tonight. They had a blast. Miss Karen, their leader is probably ready to pool her hair out. She has all boys in her group, wow!

While the boys were at VBS we tried out the new restaurant in town. Yummy! We just hung out and chit chatted while the kids were gone. It was strange to talk and not be interrupted.

Please be in prayer for Taylor as he continues to do well. Pray for all of our cancer friends and those who are fighting injury as well.

Hello there. How about me finally getting caught up. We spent today at home other than one quick errand. The boys played down in the playroom most of the day. They went outside for a while. We fed Sam some left over steak and he was in heaven. We were going to go to Alabama Adventure, but they boys didn’t really want to stop what they were doing. They would have loved it once they got there, but they were too busy at the time to think about it. That is okay, we are going tomorrow.

They went back to VBS tonight. Logan went right on in, no trouble. I think it is really helping that he has Heather for a his teacher. He likes having an adult he knows and trusts. He also has a little girl from his PDO class in his group, so that helps. Taylor has no worries. He was thrilled that his pal Griffin got moved to his group tonight. They made bouncy balls out of sand and water or at least that is what they said it was. Whatever it is, they are really impressed with it. They are having a great time.

While they were at VBS, I met Guh for dinner and Jim rode his bike. We all got home around the same time and the boys have had a shower and are settling down. Well, not really. They are down in the playroom. Taylor is on the other computer playing Noggin games and Logan is writing his name on his chalk board. Yes, that was the ticket. He has no desire to write like Taylor did at that age. He can barely write his name and it frustrates me to no end. He loves to write on the chalk board, so I bought a brand new box of chalk and he has been writing like crazy. He still has a ways to go, but he is getting there. Taylor on the other hand is big time into cursive. He will not do that until 3rd grade, but he is loving it. He is pretty good too. He can write everyone in the families name.

Well, that is it for us. I will try to stay on top of things, but we are leaving for the beach Friday night and the boys and I will be gone for 10 nights, so I will have to catch up again.

Today jim and I went to church. After church we picked up the boys and went to Alabama Adventure. The boys had a blast showing Jim what all they could do. Taylor went down the big black tunnel slide several times. The last one was rather tramatic for him. He fell out of the intertube half way down. He his his knee on his eye and that hurt plus I am sure it was scary to be in a dark tunnel being chased by your dad in a double intertube.

We did the lazy river several times and then the wave pool. It started to rain which was pretty funny because all the bathing suite clad, wet people were running for cover in the picnic area. We stuck it out for a bit, but it showed no signs of stopping, so we headed home.

The boys got cleaned up and ready for vacation Bible school at our church. Logan was no thrilled with the idea, but once he got there and realized he knew his leader, he was fine. Of course Taylor loved it!

I want everyone to mark their calendar for Friday, August 1st 4-7pm. That is the date for the Carnival for a Cure at Covenant Classical School on Valley Dale Rd. It is a benefit for our dear friend Lorie who is battling breast cancer. Some of you probably saw her story on Fox 6 the other night. She and her husband work with Jim and they were a huge support to us when Taylor was ill, so now we want to help them. You can view the story at www.myfoxal.com and get more infor about the carnival. We will be there, so come by and visit with two very special cancer fighters!

Today was a good day. We slept late which is always nice. We got up and got dressed and the kids went outside. They once again helped in the yard and played with Sam. Sam got in trouble for running off again and then refusing to walk back to the yard. This time Jim got the pleasure of getting him back in the yard. He knew he was in trouble too. It was sad and I hated to see him sad, but he must learn to obey. I remember Molly getting into big trouble and being made to learn and she was a very well behaved dog. So, I must be patient, Sam will catch on too.

We went to lunch with Gam maw, Paw Paw and Uncle Dugan. We headed to their house for a swim when the bottom fell out of the sky and it rained and rained and rained for several hours. By the time it stopped raining it was time for us to go to a birthday party. It was the boys first princess party:) They had fun no matter what the theme. They played with Rylee’s REAL drum set and REAL guitar and no, we did not change our minds on getting the boys REAL ones too.:) They then went out to play in the pool and bounce house set up in the yard. They had a great time. Happy Birthday Rylee.

After the party the boys decided to go back to Paw Paw’s to get a hat that Logan forgot and they ended up back in the pool. It was cold after all the rain, but they didn’t care. They talked their way into spending the night with them, so Jim and I left. We headed for home where I found Baby. Logan lost his baby this morning and his idea of looking for it is to stand there and cry while you look. I didn’t look and told him to look under the bed, under the couch etc. He didn’t do anything, so I just stopped trying. He soon forgot about it and settled for another blanket at Gam maw’s. I looked under the bed when I got home just to see and there is was. Stink pot!

Today we went to Alabama adventure. Logan slept until 10:30. That never happens, so even though we had planned to be at AA at opening, we did not make it as I was not waking him up. We were still there by about 11:30. We had a good time. We met Mrs. Donna, Kaylee, Mrs. Pam and Aaron there. They played on the slides and in the lazy river. There is a dog food plant very near to the park and it was in high gear and it stunk!!! The boys complained a lot and it was nasty, but there was nothing that could be done about it.

We left the water park around 1:00. We do not eat there because it is too expensive and since we have season passes and live only a few miles away, we just leave. We had plans to go back after lunch but another summer storm blew up and once we were all settled into home we stayed.

We went to Chili’s for dinner. The kids ate great! The boys helped Jim weed eat. Well, Taylor jumped on the trampoline and Logan pushed the play lawn mower, so if you call that help then they helped. They stayed outside pretty late riding their bikes in the driveway. That is a very nerve racking event for mom. We have a driveway that goes down hill and the go to the top and hold their feet up and ride down on whatever riding toy that they get to first. I see broken bones, skint up arms and legs, and lots of blood in the future.

Today was much the same as yesterday. We went to PDO where I saw very little of Taylor. After school we went to Burger King and got some lunch. The boys like the onion rings there, so we ventured away from McD’s. We hung out at home and the boys went outside for a while It started to sprinkle on them, so they came in. We went to the playroom and played and I was starting to update you all when a storm blew up and the power went out. We did manage to get some stuff done in the dark though. I washed the dishes since I had nothing better to do and separated laundry. The power was still off when Jim got home, so we went to Bob Sykes for dinner. It was yummy too! Taylor loves the BBQ bread grilled cheeses and Logan loves the homemade onion rings.

By the time we got home the power was back on we all settled in to watch the Baby Borrowers. It is so funny!

There is really nothing to tell today. We had school as usual and then we came home and hung out here. The boys went outside and played in the “hunting club” which is the woods in the back yard or at times under the trampoline.

We had dinner at the Mexican place for the first time in the longest. During ball season it was just about an every night dinner stop, so it was strange not to go for so long. After dinner the boys all headed home to cut grass and I went to choir practice.

That is it! I told you there was nothing to tell. I guess that is a good thing!

Boy was it hard to get up and going this morning after a long weekend full of fun. However, we managed to get going and had a good day at school. I did not see of hear from Taylor very much through out the day. He and his “big boy” friends were off playing and Watching a movie.

After school we ran a few errands and then I dropped the boys off with Guh. I had to go to Children’s to meet with Dr. Avi Maden Swain, the child psychologist that did Taylor’s neuropsych testing. Other than a long drive for a 5 minute discussion on info that I knew before I went in, it was an okay trip. While Taylor was testing with a resident several weeks ago, I talked with Dr. Avi about my concerns and what I saw with Taylor. Today we went over the results and everything I saw was dead on. Go me! He is average on everything which is fine by me. With all that he has been through treatment wise, the fact that he is average is outstanding. Now, it is important to know that the drugs he took still effect him, so he will be tests yearly to be sure he is still where he needs to be and if there are any things that need to be changed in his IEP. IEP is his individual education plan that is in place at the school and tells if he needs to leave the room for a test, longer times on tests, oral tests, aids in the room etc. At this time his IEP will place him in specific areas of the room for optimal learning. He will have speech as he always has and they will help with his spelling. The teachers will be made to give him specific instructions and individual instructions to be sure that he understands the work. As you may recall, a problem he had this past school year was doing work wrong or not at all if he did not understand it. He would not ask for help once the teacher was done teaching on it, so he missed points due to that. Now the teacher will have to make sure he understands this. I know that does not mean it will happen, but if he missed points this year due to it, I can pull his IEP and the teacher will be reminded of this. Oh, how I pray that no problems arise with the IEP. It has always been smooth at MES and I hope it stays that way. Anyway, his only below average area was attention. He is not ADD or ADHD, but he is variable. This means that he kind of zones out at times and this is where the seating arrangements will come into play. He will have to be engaged at all times to stay focused. This too we saw during the past school year. He would get 3+2 right on the front pf the math page and turn it over and miss it on the back of the page. Just a loss of focus. Also, he needs things broke up. If you give him a math page with20 problems, but they are broke up by pictures he will breeze through it. If you you give him a page of 20 straight problems and it looks like a lot it will overwhelm him and he messes up. So, in the grand scheme of things he is doing great! Dr. Avi will write up a report and she will send it to me to take to school and we will get a new IEP in place. She will request that he have a structured not rigid teacher. He tends to shut down if he is yelled at or put on the spot. I also learned that he has an IQ of 92. 85-115 is the normal range for his age. Not bad! He will be tested again in the early summer of 2009. Second grade is the first school year that is real school so to speak. No special treatment and fancy teacher made notebooks etc. The child is responsible for putting their names on their stuff, writing down homework etc, so Dr. Avi said this year will be a really good test of how he can deal with this and stay focused. More than likely his scores will go down when he is tested next year. That is normal and really to be expected with his treatment history. So, that is that. Crazy huh!

I picked up the kids and we all went to the dang ball park. I am so tired of that place. My kids wanted to go until they realized Jim expected them to play. Taylor played some, but not Logan. We had a boys against girls game. We all headed to good old McDonald’s for a quick bite before heading home.

Today we spent at home. We have been so busy all weekend that we just hung out at home and did nothing. I got into a cleaning mood and really cleaned out the bathroom closet and cleaned out the boys cabinet in the kitchen. Sippy cups are long gone, all those crazy cups you collect from the zoo, six flags etc, are long gone. They finally have a clean cabinet and stuff does not jump out when you open it.

The boys played outside for the longest. Sam played right along with them for the longest until he decided to look for trouble and he found it. Sam is still very much a puppy, just a baby at only 6 months old. He looks like a grown dog seeing as he is 70 pounds or so, but he is indeed a puppy. He took off next door for a frolic with Baby, the schnauzer. We called, pulled, coaxed, pulled, sweet talked, pulled and then CARRIED Sam back to our house. He is stubborn as a mule and heavy as an ox! He got put away in the pin. Now, I know that he is a baby and he will get out of this stage, but after carrying him and his fighting every step of the way, I was not concerned with him growing out if it. He was not happy that they boys stayed outside and played and he did not get to get out, but he will get over it!

The boys continued to play outside for a while until they were tired of the heat and the bugs. We ran to Wal mart and bought the stuff to make Monkey bread and then came home and made some. The kids enjoyed shaking the dough in the cinnamon and sugar. We grilled out for dinner and hung out at home. The kids stayed up late and played and had a normal summer evening. They both slept in their bedrooms, but camped out in the floor. I remember wanting to sleep int he floor when I was little, so I understand the fascination with it.

Today was another busy yet fun filled day. I went to church this morning and then we all went to Nana’s for Guh’s birthday dinner. The boys played with the traditional toy at Nana’s. She has a daycare, so there are more toys than Wal-mart, but all of us who have grown up there go for the pirate lego set.

After a few hours of food and fellowship at Nana’s we went to Gammaw’s for a pool party. That was fun. We bought some new hoops to swim through under water. The boys had fun with that. They bought new torpedo’s that you throw in and they go crazy in the water then you dive for it. They even lit up, so when it got late they looked cool in the pool.

We all had a great time just sitting around and talking. It was fun. It was soon time to head for home and head for bed. The boys were beat after a long day in the pool. They had a camp out in the living room. They got their sleeping bags out and turned on Surf’s up and went to sleep.

The boys spent the night with Blake last night. Jim and I slept in and then hung out around the house. I called to see when Amy wanted me to come get the kids, but she said they could stay until the cook out at 4:00. Is she nuts? I tried ( not very hard!) to go get them, but she insisted.

Jim and I ran a few errands and then we all met up at a friends house for a cook out and a game of baseball. I think the “big boys” had more fun than the little boys. We had a great time and some great food. Thank you to the Leakes.

When we got home the boys were still realing with excitement, it has been a long time since they had 7 kids to play with at one time. They had a ball.

Taylor got a little trim today. The boys went with the Blake for a hair cut. Logan was begging for a hair cut and Taylor gave in on a trim around the back and ears. He is determined to have long hair. We need to get some new pictures up, so you can see this new do.